ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the full elaboration and later diffusion of the pattern will be mapped out. First, it will be argued that in the Islamic East, eleventhcentury authors from the secretarial class, but especially the famous Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092), expanded upon the cyclical pattern of history implicit in Bayhaqi. Nizam al-Mulk’s significant contribution to this pattern was the transfer of ghaza to the ‘founder king’ model, removing holy war from the climactic reign of the ideal monarch (Mahmud). Second, it will be shown how during the Mongol period, in a biography of a Muslim prince by the name of Jalal al-Din Minkubirni (d. 1230) (from Khwarazm in today’s Uzbekistan), a last attribute was added to the founder king: that of the refugee and wanderer. Third, the chapter will close by providing an example of how the ‘triad of kings’ cycle could be employed over and over again by Muslim chroniclers to plot the history of a particular dynasty. The evidence for this last section will be found in a history of the Seljuks of Rum by Ibn Bibi.
